MAY 28, 2009 ISSUE
Business Spotlight
9 Lives Antiques & Consignment—Enhancing Our Lives with Items From the Lives of Others
Clyde Williams, owner of 9 Lives Antiques & Consignment in Foscoe, has spent her life traveling across the globe searching for rare antiques and unusual furniture. Today, her home base is in the High Country and she is eager to share her enthusiasm for quality consignments and rare finds with any customer.
While living in Hong Kong providing strategic planning for large corporations, Clyde Williams, owner of 9 Lives Antiques & Consignment in Foscoe, lived for the weekends. Enticed by the hunt, Williams traveled all over Asia during her 15-year stay on the continent searching, buying and collecting fine antiques and unusual pieces of furniture. When she accumulated a substantial load, she’d pack it up in a container, ship it to America and then fly back and host a weeklong container sale, offering U.S. consumers bargain deals on rare finds from the orient.
Since those days, shipping goods from Asia via container has become cost prohibitive, but not to worry. Williams is now the owner of 9 Lives, which is filled to the brim with rare antiques and unique furniture that suffices her need for the thrill of the hunt. Today, Williams hunts for quality consigners and for people like herself who may still be harboring antiques in storage that would be perfect additions to mountain homes. And she succeeds.
“I am always trying to find consigners that will bring us unique pieces that will fit perfectly in mountain homes,” said Williams, who opened 9 Lives in 2006. “I love finding primitive, rustic furniture that is great for second homes, mountain homes and cabins, as well as local mountain stuff, such as pieces from North Carolina and Virginia.”
9 Lives is 60 percent consignment shop and 40 percent store-owned inventory retail shop that features furniture, accessories and art. Most items are 90-day consignments, meaning consigners enter into a 90-day agreement with Williams to sell their products. If an item doesn’t sell after 30 days, it is discounted 10 percent; if the item doesn’t sell after 60 days, it is discounted an additional 10 percent.
“But we try and price everything well so that doesn’t happen,” said Williams, who runs the shop with the help of two employees—Cathy Huffman and Carolyn Smith. “You want inventory to roll at a consignment shop. That way there is always something new when they come in. The goal is to keep prices very reasonable.”
According to Williams, 9 Lives features reasonable prices for an antique store and consignment shop of its caliber. Customers will find a few items more than $1,000, but most items are under $500 and many are under $200. Williams believes these price points make 9 Lives’ products accessible to more people, especially considering the current economic downturn.
To bring her collection of consignments and antiques to a wider audience, Williams hosts porch sales every third Saturday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 9 Lives. During the sales, Williams drags out hundreds of items from storage and the store and starts filling out discounted price tags. The result is great finds at low prices, “so it’s really a good sale,” Williams added.
Williams is originally from Raleigh. She attended Randolph Macon Women’s College in Virginia where she obtained a degree in mathematics. Her degree landed her a job with IBM, where she worked for 13 years handling training, sales and marketing and competitive marketing. After 10 years with the company, IBM moved Williams to Hong Kong to assist with strategic planning. After three years, though, IBM wanted her to move home. But Williams wasn’t ready. Williams ended up spending the next 12 years in Hong Kong assisting real estate firms and providing strategic planning for large corporations—as well as hunting for unique antiques and furniture.
“While in Asia, I absolutely loved collecting antiques and unusual pieces of furniture,” said Williams. “I loved the thrill of finding it, you know?”
After 15 years in Asia, Williams moved back to North Carolina, but not for long. Soon, the travel bug bit her again and she left for South America, also providing strategic planning services. Her tenure in South America lasted four years before Williams decided to move back to North Carolina, this time to the mountains.
“I grew up spending summers here,” Williams said.
And now, after traveling around the globe, Williams will once again spend her summers in the High Country, a comfortable bookend to a life well traveled.
9 Lives Antiques & Consignment is located at 10244 Highway 105 South in Foscoe, less than 0.5 mile from the Foscoe Fire Department. The shop is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 828-963-9109.
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